Merry Christmas!

I pray you that despite the chaos that is surronding you at this moment...that you are filled with PEACE. 
 
It seems like we are living in a time filled with uncertainty.  It is comforting to know that our God is a sovereign God.   We cannot see the future...but He can.  We are without understanding, but He understands.  While we lack in wisdom, He is filled with it.  He is good & He is full of love for His people.  So much that while we were yet entrenched in our sins, He sent His only Son to earth, to live and then die for us.  To save us from our sins. 
 
This is from my Bible reading this morning.  It's found in Isaiah chapter 40 verses 10-15.

¹⁰ Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
 ¹¹ He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
 ¹² Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
 ¹³ Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him?
 ¹⁴ With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

¹⁵ Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

 

We truly serve an awesome God.

May you be blessed this Christmas!

MY stuff!!!

We had a message in church on Thanksgiving that’s been on my heart a lot lately.

My sister Nancy, for those of you who don’t know her, is mentally handicapped. She’s been that way since she was 2 years old when she contracted encephalitis. The thing about Nancy is that she LOVES her stuff. She crams it all into her purse and tries to carry it all with her wherever she goes. At times her purse is unbelievably heavy! About every other weekend my mom has to distract her long enough to quickly sort thru her latest collection of treasures to purge out the garbage & stuff that isn’t needed in order to lighten the purse so it doesn’t hurt my sister to carry it. If Nancy sees what she’s doing she gets VERY upset w/my mom. She doesn’t want anyone messing w/her stuff!

And it hit me…I’m like that.

I don’t like when God messes w/MY stuff. I don’t like when he purges things out my life….things that I think are MINE or even relationships that I think I’m ENTITLED to. Sometimes I find myself holding on to things so tightly!! My knuckles are white with strain as I try my hardest to keep track of MY stuff!!!  I stress, I worry, I am ever watchful….and it’s exhausting!

On Thanksgiving I was reminded of this again. The message really hit me...that I am not entitled to ANYTHING..period. Everything I have is my Father’s. I didn’t earn it, and I most definitely didn’t do anything to deserve it…and yet more times than not I find myself clutching it all fiercely to my chest, holding onto it for all I’m worth.

That sermon has challenged me to be thankful for the people & things that God has entrusted to me, but then in turn, for me to trust that He knows what’s best for me when he gently takes things away that have become too heavy for me to carry. I know He probably gets pretty frustrated with me & my "MINE" attitude!  I am so thankful for His grace and patience:)  I love Him.

Parenting Adjustments

Warning, this next post has nothing to do w/photography & is somewhat sentimental so if this makes you uncomfortable you may stop reading now :)

I remember when they were all little & I was home all day w/them, and while it was exhausting physically it was also FUN.

Each and everyday was an adventure...whether we were making a fort, pretending the couches were "boats", or packing a lunch and going for a hike.

And then they start going to school and the most dreaded thing happens...a schedule.  And you begin to live and breathe by the clock.  But pretty soon you get used to it and then once the last kid turns 5 off they go to all day kindergarten POOF, you get your life back.  You regain your home & your day...and as long as your home by 4 you're good.

Then, just when you're getting used to it...the oldest one moves out, & the next one starts community college and POOF, all of a sudden you've got a kid home off and on again w/you during the day.  They have crazy schedules that I can never seem to completely get straight..and then as soon as I do the schedule changes. So while this is emotionally exhausting...there is also FUN in this stage too.    I love having this time w/them even if it is another adjustment.

We just got done registering Jess for classes and while I'm preparing for yet another adjustment I'm also looking ahead and trying to prepare for the next really big change of having Caleb possibly moving to Bloomington for an internship this summer.  I don't know if I'm ready to not see/talk to one of my kids on a daily basis.  All of a sudden it's hitting me how brief this time is.  It's going SO fast!!  I feel like I'm constantly having to relearn over and over again how quickly life changes & trying to appreciate the blessings of each season.  And all the while fighting the temptation to hold on too tightly to each season knowing that if I do...I'm probably missing something precious from the next season.


I find myself needing to rely more and more on my Father, needing His grace & wisdom as I'm adjusting and re-adjusting but yet knowing that no matter how many changes are happening around me, He never changes.  He is the same yesterday, today, & tomorrow and for that I am SO thankful!

Just because you can....

Just because you can…doesn’t mean you should.

This applies to a lot of different scenarios, like for instance still fitting into your high school jeans, texting & driving, and in some cases, I think it also applies to over-editing. It seems to be an epidemic!

In the past 10 years photography has changed drastically, and for the most part good things have come from those changes but when it comes to editing, I’m starting to ask the question “just because you can…does that mean you should?” As I see more and more work leaning toward the subjects almost looking “computer generated” I feel like we are beginning to cross the line and lose the “truth” of who our subjects are.

I’m not talking about touching up a few blemishes or taming down a few wild hairs or covering up the scratch on your toddler‘s nose….I’m talking smoothing skin down to a point where it’s almost cartoon looking, adding so much sparkle to the eyes that they no longer even look human, losing the “realness” of the person. Where do we stop? Where is the line?

This is a question I was just asking myself as I was trying out a new editing program on one of my daughter’s senior pictures. After processing the picture thru the program…I didn’t even feel like I was looking at my own kid anymore, what was left of her was just a computer generated image…..a flawless beautiful image. But here’s the thing, it wasn’t even “her” anymore. The point of photography is art, but it is also a way of capturing the images of the people who matter to us, to help us remember them as they truly were….and I think we might be losing something precious when we airbrush them to the point of not even looking “real“ anymore.

With that said, I will of course continue to tame those wild hairs & touch up that blemish, but when it comes to the sparkle in your eyes, I want that to be real & true….and I think it’s this “truth” that makes your pictures beautiful!

Blog Worthy News!

I know it's been 2 months since my last post, and it's not that I'm not busy doing stuff/sessions everyday...it's that I'm doing TOO MANY things to blog about. 

However, this past week deserves a Blog Post.

Rewind back a year or so from today, I was driving down 116 and happened to look out the window and saw an old cool looking brick building in the middle of Hanna City.  My first thought was "that would make such a cool studio".  Of course that was just in passing and I didn't think too much more about it until I was with my husband a few weeks later and we drove by again and I brought it up to him.  It had this row of windows at the top of it that would let lots of light in and looked like it had super tall ceilings.  The other thing we noticed at this time is that it looked vacant, however there was no "for sale/rent" sign in the window so there was no way of knowing what was going on w/it.

A few days later I decided to go into the store next door specifically to ask if they knew anything about the building.  The lady behind the counter says "yes, it's my daughter's and she's a photographer and they plan to fix it up to use for her busines."  End of story.....right???

Fast forward to last week...
My husband is driving thru town and notices there is a "for sale" sign in the window!  He calls me and I call the #, we set up a time to see it at the end of the week.   And we both start praying...

My prayers went something like this....."Father, I don't really want to start another project...I am busy, I am tired from the last one, my family is tired, my husband is working 10 hr days...I don't know the future....but I know YOU do, I know my company is Yours, our money is Yours, so whatever Your will is for us, I ask that you protect us from making a foolish decision."

I have never really had a lot of debt or overhead w/my company.  All of my equipment I was able to save up and pay cash for so this was a big step for me and I went to my Compass for direction....my Bible.  I'm reading thru the Old Testament and on Friday morning I was at the end of Proverbs...just happened to work out that way right???  So Proverbs 31 talks about a woman, who works hard, who invests wisely, a woman who basically "takes care of business".  So going to see the building that evening...even though it will need work, even though I'm tired & busy, I had a peace that it's OK for us to go thru w/this project.

Saturday we put in an offer, it was accepted less than an hour later, and we closed this morning. 
So here we go again w/being overwhelmed & under staffed:)  There's a verse that says His strength is made perfect in our weakness....so I'll be looking to His perfect strength to get us thru these next couple of months!

 

The building has an interesting history...it was built in 1900 as the first bank in Hanna City.  There is even the original vault.  This vault is pretty much staying where it is (22 inch thick walls) so I'm thinking "dressing room"?

right now we're just going over ideas and checking stuff out, no real projected move in date but hopefully sometime in the beginning of 2013 we'll be moved in....hopefully:)

Senior Session Adventure!

Yesterday Jess and I hit the road for her official Senior session! Can't believe my baby girl is a SENIOR! Anyway, we headed toward the studio first to load up a couple of cool props to take w/us. Before we even made it to the studio I had to stop and take a few by the old stone school that I drive by everytime I'm heading to my studio and always think to myself "I'd love to take pics there". The morning sun was just peeking over the trees and made the shot so pretty!

Then while at the studio we saw these beautiful purple morning glories in full bloom by the wrought iron gate....

Then off to the Norris water filling station! I knew it would make for some awesome backdrops....

Next stop was Norris lake...

Then off to Canton, where we drove around looking for some cool old buildings. We were looking specifically for some graffitti, however they must keep a pretty close eye on their teens & spray paint cause we were not successful. We did find a beautiful old stone church that I absolutely LOVED and a really cool old brck wall...love, love, love!

We ended the session w/lunch at one of the local diners and grocery shopping (cause I can do that as long as the senior is my daughter right?). We had a blast and I must say this session had a whole different feel to it then when I did my older boy's senior sessions....let's just say it was more like pulling teeth:)

stuff that's been keeping me busy... lots of weddings....

lots of photo sessions....

I can't possibly post pics from every session from the last few weeks...just too many. The other thing we've been doing is lots of construction on our rental house. .

we're in the home stretch but it's been a long road. as soon as the interior is done (hopefully w/in a month or so) I'll upload before and after pics of the interior

Thinking outside of the box/case

I've had this dilema for the past couple of years. As my equipment collection grows, so does my need for a good way to carry it all. I started w/a simple canon carrying bag, then quickly outgrew that and went to a hard case w/padding and immediately realized it just didn't have all the compartments I needed when it came to card/battery/lense/flash storage. So then I bought a camera backpack which had all the little pockets and padding and that worked for a few years except for weddings when every good photographer knows to bring just about EVERYTHING they own....and that's NOT going to fit in the backpack so I end up carrying the backpack and also another smaller bag. I didn't really like having to remember which bag had what and when shooting a wedding you just don't have time to dig through 2 different bags for some fresh batteries. It was a problem............until today. TA DA! I was reading the sunday paper and of course looking thru my favorite add, yeah the Menards add, when I saw the solution to my problem. It's called a Massive Mouth Bag! Now technically this is a tool bag and it is black and yellow (the only color it came in) but look at how nice everything fits in it! I now have spots for each flash, battery chargers, batteries, and cameras/lenses all in ONE bag. The draw back...it's heavy, but I'm thinking the positives out weigh (no pun intended) the negatives:)

i missed it again!

My mare was due to have a baby so I've been watching her pretty closely. Last night I stood out in the pasture thinking, maybe tomorrow morning (she's had her last 3 in the morning). I woke up at 5 and grabbed a flashlight, walked out to the pasture and there he is, already dry. Apparently my mare is trying to tell me that she really doesn't need any help when it comes to having her babies. I'm thankful really, that she can deliver w/out any complications. Here are a few pics...

The little neighbor girl from next door had to come out and meet the little guy...she says she'll give me a thousand dollars if we let her keep that baby horse:)

On another note we've been working non stop remodeling a rental house so that's why my blog is being neglected... As long as I keep up w/clients & somewhat keep up on housework in between working on the rental I figure it's ok to let the blog slip. Besides...my business is on facebook now so maybe that makes up for it.

Am I the only one???

Sometimes I think I might be the only one who gets excited over wet spider webs but I just can't help it.

They're just cool! So when I was walking this misty morning that's the first thing I noticed...a whole bunch of spider webs coated in tiny little droplets of water. So of course I had to put my macro lens on and try out my new 7D camera. This is what I got..

Baby, Baby, Baby!

Wow, I haven't been on here for awhile but had such a fun night last night w/3 baby sessions in a row!

Here are a couple of pics from those...

Winter wedding

I love shooting weddings. People ask me all the time if they stress me out but I always answer "no, I love them". I don't get stressed about them, excited yes, stressed, hardly ever.

Winter weddings however, add a whole new angle. Especially when the bride is sick and can't spend much time outside. All of a sudden you've got a truck load of lights & extension cords to add to the already full truck load of stuff to take to the wedding.

My normal spring, summer, fall wedding pile consists of an old piano bench (light weight and perfect for 2), 4 foldable stools of varying heights, 2 small iron stools (really they are decorative plant holders), a tri-pod, a remote, 3 flashes, 2-3 cameras, several different lenses (wide angle, zoom, etc), a million rechargeable batteries for both the cameras & flashes, a towel, baby wipes, water bottles, an unbrella (you never know), a sun/reflective shade, a sheet of clear plastic, bobby pins, safety pins, a light sphere, & a bunch of cf cards. So you can see why adding 2 big studio lights and extension cords can be a big deal...& I'm very glad that I have an expedition that can fit it all in!

So Saturday off we went in my crammed full truck to Goodfield to shoot Megan & Fred's wedding photos. Poor Megan was on antibiotics and just that morning started feeling better. We started at the Fellowship Hall by unloading everything and getting it all set up and plugged in. Kinga and I always show up about 30 minutes early to do some test shots to make sure everything is ready before it's time to start running through the photo list. Just in case there's a problem that gives us the time to get it worked out...just in case. And sure enough there was a problem. My never failing awesome studio lights that I LOVE would not fire. We tried everything. I even googled it & phoned a friend. I was thinking maybe it was a communication problem between my camera's mounted flash and the lights but after messing around w/them and unplugging and replugging and turning everything off then back on they finally started to work about 5 minutes before we were starting. Okay, I'll admit it, at this point I was getting a teeny bit stressed. Turns out they were just so cold they needed a little warm up time:) I'm always so glad for that extra 30 minutes because there's usually something that will not go according to plan and that time is when you either figure it out or go to plan "B" which would have been using my external flashes as slaves to my camera mounted one. Yes, you always need a plan "B".

Anyway we got the shots we needed and then loaded up the lights and stools & headed off to Eureka courthouse which is closed on Saturdays but if you know the right people and are from this tiny friendly town they may just open it up for you:)

To get this cool shot of the wedding party looking over the balcony...


It takes a wide angle lens and being willing to mop the courthouse floor w/my sweater:)



We got some AMAZING shots there! We hauled the lights in to get the formal shots because they are absolutely necessary when it comes to getting the correct exposure.



But the pics I love the most are the ones w/just natural light. Those pics just tend to capture the "feelings" of the day.
I take back everything I've ever said about indoor wedding pics!




These pics are some of my all time favorites, and from a winter wedding no less!